KCL men’s badminton thrash Queen Mary in Olympic venue

KING’S men’s 2nd badminton team had the rare privilege of competing in an Olympic venue last week, facing a Queen Mary team in Stratford’s Copper Box.

In a fantastic setting, the King’s team played superbly to gain a 7-1 victory.

Roar News / Johnny Tam

In the venue, used two years ago for Handball and Modern Pentathlon Fencing, Kishen Patal and Matt Chan both played some excellent singles to give King’s a 2-0 lead early on.

These results were matched by the doubles pairs of Pally Kumar and Alex Lam, and Jaakko Heiskanen and Nayan Patal, with two wins by 21-19, 21-16, to put King’s on the brink of victory just halfway through.

Roar News / Johnny Tam

Despite this early success, after the match, Captain Patal said he personally had found it “difficult to adjust at first to playing in such a cavernous arena of 9,000 seats”. However, he did say that it had felt prestigious for the King’s team to be able to play in a world-class setting.

Kumar and Lam secured the victory soon after with a comfortable win, while Heiskanen’s net skill alongside Patal’s explosive smashes, brought King’s up to six victories on the day.

Roar News / Johnny Tam

Queen Mary were on the ball in the penultimate singles match, but needed three sets to beat Patal. Chan ensured the day ended on a high, edging out a tight final match 21-18, 21-19 thanks to some impressive defence.

Roar News / Johnny Tam

Patal also said after the game that he was impressed with the team’s new players, and hoped it would be a strong season, as the team aim for promotion this year.